Rebels Refusing to Allow Investigators Near Crash Site

By Associated Press&nbsp|&nbsp

Posted: Fri 10:21 PM, Jul 18, 2014

ROZSYPNE, Ukraine (AP) -- World leaders are demanding that pro-Russia rebels who control the eastern Ukraine crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 give immediate, unfettered access to independent investigators. The first international investigators at the scene weren't given full access. The delegation, mostly from Europe, was allowed to make just a partial, superficial inspection, before being ordered to leave -- an order that was enforced with a warning shot from a rifle. The monitors found the bodies of victims strewn on the ground in the crash area, which covers eight square miles between two villages near the Russian border. U.S. officials say the plane, with 298 passengers and crew, was likely brought down by a ground-to-air missile. The White House and the Kremlin are both calling for peace talks between Ukraine and the separatists. But heavy fighting was reported less than 60 miles from the crash site today, with an estimated 20 civilians reported killed.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The United States has begun building a case linking pro-Russian separatists to the downing of a passenger jet in Ukraine. President Barack Obama says the U.S. believes the Malaysia Airlines plane was felled by a surface-to-air missile launched from an area near the Ukraine-Russia border that is controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists. Obama cautioned that the exact circumstances are still being determined, but also said the insurgents would not be capable of carrying out such an attack without Russia's support. The president spoke shortly after the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, outlined preliminary evidence against Russia and the separatists during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Samantha Power said separatists were spotted Thursday with an SA-11 anti-aircraft missile at a location close to the site where the plane came down and that they had boasted on social media sites about shooting down a plane, then later deleted those posts. An American killed in the crash has been identified as Quinn Lucas Schansman. Officials are still working to confirm whether any other U.S. citizens were on board the plane.

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